Many electronic information retrieval devices are controlled by humans for purposes of entertainment and information. One example is an information retrieval system, such as an Internet browser running on a computer, which can be used to retrieve entertainment and information, including news, weather information, stock information, etc. Another example is an entertainment device where a user selects channels or frequencies for receiving video and audio entertainment and information, such as a television or radio system.
A problem that exists in information retrieval devices of the prior art is that when such a device is initialized, the device generally uses a default value to retrieve specific information upon start up in advance of receiving a human input. The default value is therefore a first value used upon initialization, and is employed by a device designer in a guesswork attempt to anticipate a user's desires.
The prior art default value is generally chosen during manufacture of the device. Alternatively, it may be manually selected by the user, as in the case of a default Internet home page, or may be a last-used value. For example, when a user starts his or her computer and accesses the Internet, an Internet session is initialized by loading a home page default. In the prior art, the default browser home page is either a single address set by the user or is a last website visited by the user. Similarly, when the user turns on a television or turns on a cable television set-top box, the device tunes to the last television channel viewed by the user. Therefore, the prior art approaches to default values are generally either to set one default value or to just recall a last-used value. Therefore, the prior art approach allows only a single default and requires the user to manually change the default value if a new default is desired.
However, the prior art approach is not very flexible and does not reflect the user's wishes. The user may have varying needs and requirements according to the time of day, the day of the week, etc. Therefore, the typical prior art default does not follow the user's habits, and does not allow multiple defaults. Furthermore, the typical prior art default is not time-based, which is often predictive of user behavior. For example, a user who accesses the Internet upon arriving to work in the morning will generally access a website that is different from what the user may access at lunch time or at home after work, for example.
What is needed, therefore, are improvements to electronic devices employing default values.